Skip to main content

The Manual may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site.

New Music Monday: MG

new music monday mg
Image used with permission by copyright holder
MG coverDepeche Mode songwriter Martin Gore’s new solo album, MG, is scheduled to come out this Tuesday (April 28) on Mute Records. Though Depeche Mode released a new studio album in 2013, Delta MachineMG marks the first time that Gore has used the MG moniker since VCMG’s 2012 debut album, Ssss.

MG shares much more in common with VCMG, Gore’s project with Vince Clarke. The sixteen-track electronic record is entirely instrumental. It would be easy to pigeonhole the album because of those sixteen wordless tracks, but MG defies that. Each song on the record is a completely different beast from the the other fifteen. “Europa Hymn,” the first single, begins in a trancelike state but gradually builds over its three minute runtime. This comes in stark contrast to the album’s eeriest track, the Angelo Badalamenti-like “Elk.”

MG - Europa Hymn (Official Video)

Gore began recording MG at his home studio in Santa Barbara, CA following the end of Depeche Mode’s tour in support of Delta Machine. He had been considering an entirely instrumental album since he began writing instrumentals for Depeche Mode in 1981. As Gore himself describes it, the album is the “soundtrack to an emotional and mysterious film of your own design.”

#MGxMG1

MG is available via Amazon, iTunes, and Mute.

#MGxMG2
Dave Sanford
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Everything points to Apple TV+ making a change you’re not going to like
Is an ad-supported tier coming to Apple TV+?
The Apple TV Plus Logo

It turns out that TV worked pretty well under its old model. According to a new report from Business Insider, Apple TV+ may be the latest streaming service that's set to introduce an ad-supported tier and charge those who don't stream with ads a premium fee to access their great shows and movies.

At this point, the report is still speculation, but Apple has made several recent hires in the advertising space that seem to suggest the direction they're planning to take. The company recently hired former NBCUniversal ad executive Joseph Cady to serve as executive vice president of advanced advertising and partnerships, a move that comes following the company's hiring of another former NBCUniversal executive, Jason Frum, who joined Apple's video ad sales team.

Read more
From Gilda Radner to Ali Wong, these are the best female comedians of all time
These women from all generations will make you laugh out loud
Ai Wong comedian 2017 Moontower comedy festival

Hot take: I don’t care for straight male comedians. It’s not that they’re not funny, they’re just … I don’t know, boring? Maybe that’s reductive of me, but I never seem to leave a straight male comedian’s set feeling particularly inspired. And though some may argue that it’s not important for a set to "inspire" its audience, I’d actually argue that the opposite is true. For me, I want to see a comedian use humor to address real issues and say real things about the world, even if they do it in a completely goofy way.

Therefore, I tend to prefer female and female-identified comedians. They’re sharp, tough, and have often seen shit that makes their comedy feel raw and true. Undoubtedly there are male comedians who do this, too, but to a much lesser degree, in my very humble and very personal opinion.

Read more
12 classic sci-fi books everyone should read
If you love science fiction and reading, these classic sci-fi novels are a must
Man reading a book and drinking coffee

It may feel like we were recently living in a science-fiction dystopia life -- and in some ways, we were -- but that doesn't mean that we should simply avoid an entire genre of writing. Hardly. In fact, this is probably the perfect time to explore classic sci-fi books, to see what the masters have written, and maybe even see if someone predicted anything like this. Many, though, simply ignore sci-fi wholly and completely because of an association with robots, aliens, and the like.

Long story short, if you think you don't like sci-fi, you have never read great books from the genre. But indeed, many such books abound, including a number that has delighted generations of readers going back well over 150 years. In fact, one of the best things about so many sci-fi books is their very timelessness. As by definition, this type of fiction breaks away from the norms of the everyday world -- whether slightly twisting things or taking place on entire other worlds -- the stories often feel as fresh and relevant today as when they were published decades ago.

Read more